Whose Universe Are We In?

17

They turned to face each other. Dan straightened the cravat Alan wore, while Alan used both hands to straighten Dan’s hair, smoothing his hands over his lover’s warm head before leaning in and kissing him, “Let’s forget all the Voldemort stuff for one night and let’s try and have some fun”. Dan harumphed, “Fat lot of fun it’ll be having to stay discreet and separate from you all night. I’m dreading this, I never did like parties that much”.

Alan quirked a brow, “Not like parties? A young thing like you? I lived for them at your age. I met Rima at one as a matter of fact. I am not keen on the ‘industry’ bashes as they are more about publicity and shoving your nose up the right arses but private parties I always enjoyed”. Dan snorted, “And your school discos?” Alan blew out a breath, “I really can’t remember that far back. There’s probably a good reason why I can’t. Oh, well, shall we?”

They were as neat and ready as they could be so Dan slipped his hand into the proffered crooked arm, took a deep breath and nodded, “I can remember my school discos, Alan, and they were always awful. People fighting and falling out. Loves broken and relationships messed up as the participants imbibed alcohol that was far too strong, not to mention tottering home through all the piles of vomit. Nice. I was always glad to see either mum’s or dad’s car at the entrance to the school drive waiting to pick me up. Nah, didn’t like the school parties I went to, by and large. C’mon, let’s get this over with”, and with that, they left the dungeons and headed up to the Great Hall.

Approaching the Hall, they passed through knots of folk already seemingly intoxicated and the night was yet young. Alan saw Dan’s point as they wound through folk, some, if they noticed, shrinking from Alan’s glare but others were completely oblivious, kissing in corners and some were doing considerably more than just kissing if the vague movements he espied in the darkest corners were anything to go by. As a supposed teacher he had to break up one couple that were all but copulating against the corridor wall and as the pair sprang apart, he warned them on the use of prophylactics and contraceptive charms before billowing into the Hall in the wake of his lover.

Inside the Hall was bedlam. Music pounded out from invisible speakers drowning out any and all conversations that weren’t conducted in shouts into the recipient’s ears. Alan could feel a headache forming between his eyes as they adjusted to the gloom. He felt Dan tense on his arm. “We need a drink”, he shouted. Dan turned and smiled at him, “Looks like the drinks table over there”, he indicated with a tilt of his head and they stepped into the maelstrom of noise.

Dan took the ladle from the punch, the only drink on offer, and sniffed cautiously before rearing away, his eyes blinking, “Jesus, this is nearly pure vodka, mixed in with enough pumpkin juice so as to appear innocent. Want one?” Alan smiled and shook his head, “Bloody hell, no. We don’t know what has been tipped into this lot do we?” Dan grinned and shook his head then spotted the staff table behind which sat Minerva and Hagrid, obviously it was their turn on first ‘watch’.

He saw the bottles of firewhisky pass between them and nodded at them, saying to his lover, “Let’s cadge a drinkie off those two, at least it won’t have been adulterated and, I, for one, need to get a bit pissed to cope with all this”. Alan agreed, he really was getting a headache and was miles away from his pain potions. Damn!.

They stepped up to the table and were warmly greeted. Rubeus poured them both a generous measure and pushed the glasses over to them across the table, “Fine night, gents, fine night, but at least I pulled the early shift. I pity Remus and Filius their tasks later. They get to clean up after this lot”, he waved his glass at the assembled crowds of dancers and revellers.

Alan sank into a chair and asked, “I don’t suppose either of you has a pain potion about your persons, do you?” Minerva chuckled and fished in her robe pocket withdrawing one of the familiar glass bottles, “Aye, laddie, here you go. These rumpuses are always too loud but the kids like it”, she passed Alan the bottle. He ripped out the cork and drank thirstily, wincing at the bitter taste but glad that his headache was receding rapidly.

They were soon joined by the DADA teacher and his lover. Tom looked beautiful, there was no other word for it, in his formal robes, and even Remus had scrubbed up well for the occasion. As more staff drifted in so their apprentices went to their sides, more out of solidarity with Alan, Dan and Tom than anything else and Dan warmed inside to see that he seemed to be genuinely liked by some of these people.

At some point, he heard a sigh beside him and turned to see Hermione flop into the next-door seat. She had been dancing and was red and sweaty, her foundation was running a bit but Dan decided to say nothing. He Summoned her a glass of plain juice transfigured it to water, cooled it and handed it to her.

Her eyes went round and she took the glass from him with shaking fingers before looking up at him. Dan shook his head minutely, “What? What did I just do?”, his brows raised. She laughed then, a sharp bark, “Bloody hell, you’ve no idea, have you?” Dan merely looked puzzled and breathed slowly in and out, “Nope”, he said eventually.

She raised her wand and Dan flinched instinctively until he heard the music go quiet around them. His ears were already ringing in the sudden silence. She murmured, “Ah, that’s better. So, come on, Dan, what the fuck was all that? You did Transfiguration, Summoning, Cooling charms and, unless you keep your wand invisible, but you don’t, ‘cos, oh shit, I can see it in your sleeve, then you didn’t use a wand or even words for any of the spells you just did. What the fuck gives, Dan, what gives?”

Dan tightened his lips but couldn’t look away from her searching look. He could smell the alcohol on her breath although she was far from drunk and Dan surmised that she’d taken a little Dutch courage first. He decided to be straight with her and took a deep breath, “I think Alan and I are bonded”, he dropped between them and all was silent save her gasp of indrawn breath.

The silence was absolute around them and Dan muttered nervously, “Your silencing charms are wicked good”, and smoothed his hands down his thighs. She laughed at this and relaxed a little from her intense scrutiny of him, then bit her lip and said, “You’re the better wizards”. Dan gulped. WHAT?!

Blinking rapidly, he waved his hand with the glass in it and was surprised that he didn’t squeak when he replied, “Explain”, content that his voice sounded like his own. She broke the stare then and gazed out at the dancers while not actually watching them, shifting slightly in her seat. She sipped her water.

“We now know they did this deliberately, yeah?”, she finally said in a low voice. Dan nodded, “Yeah, you’ve seen the letter”. She held her hand up to silence him. “You’ve already had extensive magical training while you made the films. In fact you had more than Harry or any of us have had. You’re nearly twenty-one and you’ve been making these movies since you were what? Ten?” Dan nodded, not sure what she was driving at but stayed quiet. Let her say her piece.

She bit her lip slowly, “So, eleven years to our seven, that’s over half again as long”, she mused. Dan blurted, “All very well, but we weren’t learning real magic and we only did it for eight months of the year. I did have other work to do particularly as I’ve got older. I was preparing for a life beyond Harry Potter and here I am sort of being him”.

She shrugged then, “Okay, so that makes about the same amount of time we’ve been involved in the idea of magic if not it’s practicalities, yes?” Dan nodded, “Okay, I’ll give you that”. Hermione smiled then, “Was it obvious on set that you liked Alan, only Harry would have had to have had some clues as to who to bring through?” Dan looked hard at her, “What are you trying to say?”

She cast wide her hands raising them, “I don’t know but this magic brought the two of you through, well, three, but I’ve a feeling that Malfoy, er, Tom was an accident”. Dan frowned, “Yeah. So, what’s all this about us being the better wizards? Only that’s bloody creepy, given that Harry was supposed to save the world”.

Huffing out a breath, Hermione subsided in her chair, looking lumpish and adolescent, “You’re older. Most wizards and witches, if they are going to find a bond-partner, generally don’t until they have some.....er....experience under their belts. Harry and Severus were in love but they didn’t have a bond. I know Harry wanted one more than anything. It really bugged him. He felt he’d been weird all his life, you know? A freak is how his aunt and uncle described him”, Dan saw the delicate shudder run through the girl, “So I suppose he thought he deserved to have this in some way and was bloody angry when it didn’t happen. Didn’t split him and Snape up though, they were so in love, I guess”.

“So you think Alan and I have a bond?”, Dan enquired tentatively. She shrugged and faced him square on, “I’ve no fucking idea but this I do know, you are both magically stronger than they are. Skeeter, the bitch, always made Harry out to be so strong magically, you know? But in actual fact, although he was the prophesied destroyer of Voldemort, he had no more magic in him than any of the rest of us. He tried, bless him, he really tried. I think that’s what brought him and Severus together, erm, properly. Eventually, even that big, daft bat had to see that Harry was really trying to do this. Come on, I sat up reading with him almost ‘til his eyes bled. Shit”, her voice became quavery and she took a large slug of her drink, blinking away incipient tears, “He really wanted the whole bond thing, more than just to defeat Voldemort, he wanted the whole package: marriage, kids, the whole nine yards”.

Dan recalled seeing the piles of books on bonds but neither he nor Alan had really paid them more than a cursory glance. Then his mind reeled, “Sorry, Hermione, what was that you said about marriage and kids?” She was brought back from wherever she had gone and turned reddened eyes on Dan and sniffed. “Sorry, what was that again?”

Dan repeated his query. She wiped her eyes and smiled, “Oh, yes, bonded pairs can sometimes have their own kids, you know, biologically, even bonded males. Once the bond starts to take hold then they are mated for life. Bondees experience a strong desire to nest-build and a change takes place in one partner’s body, if not female, to allow for children to be carried and....Dan....Dan”, she called and saved her companion’s head from smashing into stone with a quick charm as he fell off his chair in a dead faint. “Oh bugger”, she muttered as she slid from her seat to the ground.

Banishing the silence bubble the noise crashed back in on her with a bang. She winced as she knelt, cradling Dan’s head in one arm. With her other hand she tugged on Alan’s robes. She didn’t need to say anything. Alan weighed up the situation in an instant and crouched down taking Dan from her, “He needs to be somewhere quiet for a bit. It’s his learning thing, he doesn’t like loud noises”. Alan made to lift him bodily but Hermione stayed his hand. “That’s not what made Dan faint. You two need to read about bonds – and male pregnancy as a result”, she murmured. Flabbergasted, Alan lifted Dan and bore him from the Hall.

What was she on about? Male Pregnancy? They’d gone over all that in their treks to the library surely? These and other such questions bothered Alan as he carried Dan from the Hall. He found a quiet niche, turfed out the four snoggers, (two couples! Mind out of the gutters, readers!) and tapped the wall to provide them a bench on which to lay his Danny, now murmuring and coming round. Alan was glad to be out of all the noise that still thump-thump-thump-ed behind them but at a much reduced volume.

Dan woke and sat up suddenly, “Whoa, where am I? And what was Hermione on about? Shit I need to talk to her, I might be.....er.....pregnant”, Dan’s eyes were wild. Alan held him against his chest and waited until his lover’s shock-shivers had died down, then said, “We need to find out more, I grant you. I thought that this, er, condition, was indeed impossible between two males, and, yes, if this condition is indeed possible, then we need to guard against it perhaps, for the time being at least, then maybe later, if we wish, then we may indulge, but only once the war is over”.

He finished his speech to find Dan staring at him wide-eyed, “You’d even consider this?”, Dan asked, shocked beyond belief. Alan raised his shoulders and huffed out a breath, “Danny, love, things work differently here. It’s something you’ve said, particularly amongst the slash-writers. Did you ever look up this woman’s warnings?” Dan shook his head, “I’m always too anxious looking for updates. Speaking of... there’s another due tonight. We could always blow this gaff and go see if she’s updated”. Alan said, “Are you sure? Should you not grace them with your Harry-ness for a bit longer?” Dan stuck his tongue out, to have it sucked gently into a hot mouth. After the kiss ended, he said, “Nah, told you I hate parties, they always get so hot. Let’s go and get the laptop”.

They peered cautiously out of the niche and seeing no-one, they fled on quiet feet, both prefect and master ignoring any and all scenarios that they found if no-one was being victimised. They did, however, on their travels, rescue a fourth year Hufflepuff girl being dangled by her heels over the balustrading several floors up by four first year Gryffindors. Alan intervened with glee and took House points from all concerned, twenty each for the bullies, however young and ten for the great big girl who’d let herself be caught by such young idiots. The elder girl rushed off mumbling into the lank black hair covering her face.

Dan laughed when all five girls had gone, “You enjoyed that, admit it. I could feel it radiate off you. And the House Cup doesn’t get awarded until tomorrow, you git, and I bet now, Gryffindor hasn’t a hope of winning”. Alan rolled his eyes, “How little attention you pay, Danny. I am merely preventing Gryffindor’s utter trouncing of every other House in this school, they are already still over a hundred points in the lead despite my penalties tonight. Those girls, however small and young, were being bullies, Dan, and as a teacher, however spurious, I have to dig out wrongdoing”.

Dan grinned up at him, “Nah, it’s from being at the heart of a family, Alan. You’ve spoken often and fondly of nieces and nephews. It’s weird you and Rima had no kids”. Alan blinked a couple of times, “Her decision, I assure you. As a mere male, I had to go along with it. I would have liked children....”, his voice drifted off. They started to take their accustomed path back to the dungeons when Dan paused. “I really should go back for a bit”, he said, “You know, hang out with the troops though most of them are going home tomorrow anyway so what use they’ll be if we are suddenly attacked, God knows”.

Alan drew up short at this. Dan was depressed. He could see it writ large on the boy’s face. He hated discos on principle but just for tonight....he’d do it for Dan. He threaded his arm around Dan’s shoulders and steered him back to the Hall, “Come on then, a little solidarity is a good thing. Mind you, you won’t object if I get roaring drunk will you?” Leaning up to kiss him, Dan sniggered, “I’m gonna have to be off my face to stand the noise levels. C’mon, let’s go. Oh, and by the way, I don’t give a fuck who knows that we are together. If we’re going back then I want to dance with you but only after the ickle firsties are tucked up in bed”. Laughing at this, Alan kissed Dan’s temple and kept his arm around him as they re-entered the Hall.

Most of the crowd were largely oblivious to their entrance as the dancefloor was now full of writhing bodies but one or two gasped at the sight of the Potions master with his arm cast cosily about Harry Potter’s shoulders. And, more to the point, Harry Potter had an arm slung around Snape’s waist. OHMYGOD, they looked like a couple. Even though their entrance was seen by few eyes, the owners of those eyes were already nudging their mates and spreading the word.

Oblivious to the whispers and stares, Alan let his hand drift gently down Dan’s back as they seated themselves back at Hermione’s table. At this, the whisper stream was going into overdrive. Harry Potter didn’t look Confunded or even under the Imperius curse. Various factions around the room watched him and saw him laugh as he talked to his friends, joining in conversations and swigging various drinks that the watchers knew to be alcoholic

And everyone from fourth year up knew that Confunding and alcohol didn’t mix. So what was this? Harry Potter genuinely in love with the Potions Master? Who was smiling. Laughing even as he joined in the conversation at the prefects’ table. And all the time his hand kept drifting up and down Harry’s back, now stroking, now rubbing in small circles. All who saw it were entranced.

A small group of Hufflepuff sixth year girls were taking note of what was happening. Lavinia said in her posh voice, “They are so in love, I wonder what happened during ‘the incident’. It must have brought them together. Even old Snape looks more handsome now he’s in love”. Her best friend, Laetitia replied, “Oh, no, I hear Snape’s had some work done, know what I mean?”, she neighed and tapped the side of her nose. Her friends all brayed.

Just then, a flustered Blaise Zabini came into the Hall and rushed straight up to the staff table, pulling Remus and Hagrid to one side. Tom, beside Remus barely heard the hurried low-voiced conversation but a name caught his ear and made him blanch. Remus turned to his lover, realised he must have heard something, and said, “Stay here, Tom. Albus has called for Rubeus and myself only. We’ll sort him out, all right?” Tom nodded faintly and the two staff members rose, following after the messenger.

Dan sidled over to an obviously rattled Tom, “Hey, what’s up?” Dan asked. Even in this low light he could tell Tom had gone white with fear. Tom chewed his lips then leaned in, “Apparently Lucius Malfoy has just arrived and is demanding to see his ‘son’”. Dan mumbled, “Shit. Yeah, stay here with us while the teachers sort it, yeah?” Tom rolled his eyes, “Oh, yeah, like I’m about to rush into dear daddy’s arms, I don’t bloody think”, and he took a large swig of his drink.

He almost choked on it, however, when a commotion and the sound of raised voices just beyond the Hall doors was heard. He coughed and spluttered, “That’s him, the one shouting. I’ve got to get out of here”. Dan held him back, “No. Let me just go and see what’s going on”, and with that, he started to rise until a hand grabbing the back of his robes stopped him, “Where are you off to?”, came Alan’s rich tones. Dan whipped his head round, “Just gonna see....”. The older man’s eyes rolled, “Behave yourself, Dan, what could you do? What part of ‘I am not Harry Potter’ don’t you understand? A man has a perfect right to see his child”.

Dan rounded on him, “Yeah, but he’s one of the Death Eaters, he should be arrested, like those other three were”. Alan tugged on the robe until Dan sat back down with a ‘whump’ that could be heard above the music, “That man is also one of the Governors of this school. We let the Aurors conduct any arrests, Danny, not ourselves, this is no time for heroics”. Dan ceded with a sigh and an apology.

Tom broke in, “Crap, he’s coming. Look, he’s at the door. Fuck! I’m getting out of here”, and with that, Tom stood and turned to run to find Dan and Alan right behind him. Alan grabbed Tom’s arm, “You’ll need me to exit by the staff door, let me go first”. Hermione saw their imminent exit and tugged on Dan’s sleeve, “Where are you going?” Dan turned and said, “To get Tom somewhere safe. I’ll Floocall Dumbledore in a couple of hours to see if the coast is clear yet. I’ll try here, the Gryff common room then as a last resort, I’ll Floo Albus, okay?” The girl nodded and he smiled at her and thanked her before following the other two.

As soon as they reached the dungeon there was a waiting floocall for them. Alan answered, it was Remus. “You have to get Tom to the infirmary, Albus and Lucius are headed there now. You must come, it’s tricky...Lucius has just asked Albus for sanctuary here at Hogwarts”, his head slipped from the flames.

The three glanced at each other. “What?” Tom exclaimed. Alan huffed out a breath, “Buggered if I know. This isn’t in the original story or the one we’re in, at any rate not yet. I think, chaps, that we’d better cut along, pronto”, and all three agreed. The Floo was quicker than walking so that was the route they took. Being fore-warned, Poppy stripped Tom unceremoniously and stuffed him into a bed and covered him up, making sure his ‘cuff’ was hidden, then hissed, “You’ve a dose of ‘flu. Keep your left arm under the covers”, before voices could be heard in the hallway just beyond the large double doors to the infirmary. Dan ducked out of sight but Alan stayed on hand; as the boy’s supposed housemaster, he deemed it expedient to do so.

As the doors burst open, Poppy was gently bent over her charge with a damp cloth with which she’d just made his face fever-bright and damp. She placed an empty potion bottle in her pinny pocket having just administered the contents to her still-breathless charge, the effects of which was making his temperature rise somewhat. She’d whispered that it was a potion for use against hypothermia and that he’d feel a little warm. Warm? He was boiling hot. She gently lifted his head and gave him water as Lucius Malfoy and Albus Dumbledore strode down the ward.

Albus came right up to the side of the bed whereas Lucius stopped a few paces away. The blond withdrew a handkerchief and held it to his face before advancing. His son really did look most unwell. He looked at the boy in the bed, his skin glistening with sweat, his eyes overly bright, cheeks flushed and damp tendrils of hair sticking to his cheeks and brow then with a cry, he closed the gap, sank to his knees and buried his face in Tom’s bedding, sobbing loudly, “Oh, my son, my son”, he wailed.

Taken aback, Tom didn’t have a clue what to do and looked up at the medi-witch for guidance. Poppy soothed him back onto his pillows, laid a finger briefly over his lips and coughed, “Well, Draco, that’ll help you sleep. Sorry, Mr Malfoy, but if I’d have known you were coming, I would have delayed the potion for a while longer. I do apologise”.

This served to raise the elder blond’s head and he swallowed hard, “Sorry, son. I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news at a time like this, but I can be what I was no longer. Your mother....”, his voice trailed off and he wept afresh, then sniffed and composed himself, “Your mother was killed by Voldemort this yester-eve, for your perceived crimes against him”.

Tom went to sit up, say something, anything, but all that came out of him was an anguished groan. Poppy was fussing over him in an instant, “Now, now, Draco, take it easy, there, laddie”, she settled him back into his pillows then turned to his grieving, weeping father, “I’m so sorry for your loss, Mr Malfoy but as you can see, young Draco is in no fit state for news of this sort”. Albus stepped up then, “Come, Lucius, you may see him again in the morning. You need some sleep and somewhere to feel safe”. He bent and helped the broken man to his feet.

He began to lead him away then paused, “Poppy, a phial of Severus’ finest Dreamless Sleep, if you would, my dear”. Poppy bustled to a cabinet and floated a small bottle to the headmaster, who caught it and pocketed it before continuing out of the infirmary with a sniffling Lucius Malfoy leaning heavily upon him.

The moment the doors clapped closed behind the two men, Poppy Pomfrey waved her wand over Tom and uttered a soft, “Finite Incantatem”, and Tom sat up, rubbing his eyes. Dan came out of hiding and Alan hove fully into view. “Shit! What the fuck do we do now?”, was Dan’s first question.

There was a long silence, then Poppy said gently, “I think Mr Malfoy needs to know just how much he’s lost”. Dan breathed out hard, “But Draco went missing as a result of shenanigans on the part of the Light. Lucius’d be bloody useful on this side. I believe he’s a pretty capable warrior. If we somehow keep it from him, then if he’s genuine, then he can know, but if we tell him now, he’ll just bolt back to Voldemort”.

Alan frowned, “That’s a little cold, isn’t it?” then turned fully to the glare that met his eyes from his lover. The glare that said, ‘I can’t help this. Sometimes things are too big and I have to stop them’, and Alan blinked. This was part of the reality of Dan’s disorder, think of the practical when the emotional got too much. He understood and breathed out slowly.

“I agree with you that learning of his son’s disappearance may drive him back to the Dark, but was it not the heroes’ weariness and, as they saw it, unfitness for the task, that drove them to make the switch?” Dan frowned, he hadn’t a clue what Alan was driving at, then his lover smiled, “Draco is still alive out there, somewhere, Dan. He’s safe from all this. Now we have to convince Lucius. Well, that is if we can bring Mr Malfoy junior back to his own world”.

Tom’s glare sharpened, “You know how they did it?”, he probed. Dan shrugged, “Dunno about that but we found loads of paperwork, haven’t had time to go through it all yet, there’s tons of the stuff. I’ve been scanning the lot onto my hard dri....ah, shit”. That was enough to earn him the Malfoy scowl.

“You what!? Hard drive? You have a sodding computer in this place?” Dan glanced at Alan, who rolled his eyes, then he faced Tom and sighed, “Yeah, magic crossed us over but brought a bit of our world with it as well as us. In the Astronomy tower there’s electricity and phone points from when that tower was props offices and stuff. There are very few people that know of this at the present moment and we intend to keep it that way, although there’s a second year Ravenclaw fangirl and her coterie that have their own accounts and internet access but aside from the four of them it’s okay”.

Tom cocked his head to one side, “And the computer?” Dan shrugged, “Nothing special, a Fujitsu workhorse laptop”. Tom shook his head, bemused, “I don’t understand”. Dan decided to go for broke, “I wanted to check out fanfiction. Harry Potter fanfiction, when I realised we weren’t in the scenarios of either the books or the films....and Tom? I found it. I found the story we’re in”.

This made Tom’s mouth drop open in surprise. “You are so kidding me”, he managed eventually. Dan shook his head, “’Fraid not. The writer’s a teeny bit ahead of events when she publishes but we reckon she has chapters already written and, so far, all entreaties to her better nature to help us deal with what we have before us meets with lots of silly emoticons and the email equivalent of a slap on the hand for trying to blag sneak peeks. We pick up updates every day. We know we’re being written, she has every conversation verbatim”.

Tom glanced between the voluble Dan and the silent Alan, who merely nodded in support of his lover’s words but Tom wasn’t having any of this, “Rubbish, these people are real. I’m shagging one, for fuck’s sake, and that feels pretty real to me”. Dan grinned, “So do stories when you’re in the middle of them. We’re actors; we do stories”.

“I want to read it”, Tom spluttered out, his voice hoarse. Dan nodded, “Yes, you should. It’s scary and will convince in a way that no amount of gabbing on my part will. How long will you be in here?” Tom grinned and shrugged, “Probably a couple of days to convince Lucius, but you’re right, Poppy, we have to tell him. So? The story? I need something to read while I’m here”.

Alan stepped forwards and bowed slightly, “Allow me”, he murmured then stepped towards the floo fire. In a flash of green he was gone and in moments he was back again, dusting fine ash from his robes and shaking it from the ring binder he held in his hand. He said to Dan, “It’s a copy”, and Dan grinned, handing it to Tom. Poppy just looked bemused at everything then the door slammed open again, making them all jump. Remus Lupin rushed in.

Poppy and Alan turned his way but Dan watched Tom’s face. Watched the sun come out and sighed. What was to become of Tom? Should he go back? What of Draco Malfoy? Wandering in a strange world with no wand and no money. How would he have fared?

Dan let these thoughts fade and smiled at Tom’s eager embrace of his lover and the equally eager kiss they gave each other before Remus sat on the bed and asked his lover anxious questions in a voice too low for anyone but Tom to hear. He saw Tom blush and seem almost shy as he told his tale. He saw Remus furrow his brow then look into Tom’s face, reach his hand up and touch...and their world telescope to two for a moment...until Tom blushed harder and turned slightly from the intense gaze and kissed the hand touching his cheek.

Dan was brought back to the present by an arm going around him and a voice at his ear, “There’s no more we can do tonight, love. Let’s leave them to it, shall we?” Shaking his head slightly, Dan returned to the here and now, shifting slightly to kiss Alan under his chin, “Yeah. We’re done here. Let’s leave them to it”. Poppy had by now retreated to her office and the two sought her out. Dan said, “If Tom wants us there, you know, when he tells Lucius, then call us, yeah? We’ll set the Floo just for you, okay?” The medi witch nodded, “Thank you, Dan, I’m sure he’ll appreciate the support. You, too, Alan. Goodnight, chaps, see you tomorrow, no doubt”, and they took their leave of her.

Dan and Alan took the slow route back towards the dungeons. To do this they had to pass through the Entrance Hall, now dimmed and full of snogging couples: they had completely forgotten the Leaving Feast and Disco. Bugger!!!

Now they would have to try and sneak through the detritus of the party without being seen. No such luck. A young man ran up to them, “Professor, please come, Anderson’s trying to kill Davenport, sir, over Hyacinth West, sir”, and despite the glare the ersatz potions master gave the boy, he was still pulled along by his sleeve to the scene of carnage on the stairs leading out of the entrance hall towards the main doors.

He didn’t have to do much, just raise his arms, his wand in one hand, and roar, “STOP!”, and they stopped, parting instantly, looking down and breathing hard. The girl, Alan noticed, ceased her giggling with her little friends and looked suitably chagrined. “I cannot take House Points at this stage as the year has ended, but you will all be glad to know that I can pay points forwards to next year. How your house-mates will love knowing that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw face starting the new school year in negative points. Ah how my heart sings at the thought. A hundred points from each of your blasted houses, to be effected next year. Davenport, I rather suspect that this will also rob you of your prefect hood. Am I right? Good. Now, the lot of you clear off, and you, Anderson, may wish to cut along to the infirmary, that boil on your forehead will need lancing. I hope Madam Pomfrey makes it painful”, and with that he swept away.

Dan was performing a valuable but onerous task all his own. He was banishing the puddles of puke from all corners of the corridor as the smell was making him nauseous. He watched Alan’s performance and almost cheered before sending a couple of Hufflepuff fifth years to the infirmary for stomach calming potions as they had been the main donors to the mess that he’d cleaned up. When the snogging couples had come out of their respective hazes, they all melted into the night when they saw which teacher patrolled the corridor.

Alan walked up to Dan sporting a big grin and dusting his hands together, “Well, that went well”, he beamed. Dan rolled his eyes, “Can you pay forwards like that? You were magnificent, by the way”. Alan shrugged, “No idea, love, no idea but it sure scared the bejesus out of them, didn’t it?” At this Dan had to laugh and finally spluttered, “Bloody hell, that’s so Snape, Alan”, to which Alan replied with a smug smile, “Just playing a part, love, just playing a part”, and Dan shook his head slightly as the laughter consumed him.

As they were about to set off, their path cleared for now, Dan was halted hearing his real name called and he froze to the spot. There was a sharp inhale behind him, “Sorry, I’ve learned to think of you as who you are not who you replace”, then the tension in Dan’s neck muscles relaxed. It was Hermione. He turned to see her apologetic face and smiled lop-sidedly at her.

She seemed anxious, “What happened, you know, with Mal-er-Tom and Malfoy senior?” Dan blew out a long breath and said, “It’s sort of complicated. Malfoy senior really seems to think that Tom’s Draco. We’re gonna have to come clean with him. Fuck, this is weird. Malfoy wants to come over to this side. He’s sought asylum with Dumbledore”. That caught her attention, “Wow. Why?”

Dan had to smile inside, this girl sure knew what questions to ask. It was Alan who replied. “His wife was murdered by Voldemort last night in retaliation for Tom-stroke-Draco not appearing at his little pow-wow yesterday and I have to admit, I wonder what the truth is going to do to the man”.

Hermione’s brown eyes widened in the gloom, “Bloody hell, this gets more complicated all the time. Lucius bloody Malfoy, eh? Who would have thought that one? Then again, I suppose war does that to people”. Alan winced. For a seventeen year old girl, her voice sounded altogether too world-weary.

She half-heartedly tried to persuade them to return to the Great Hall but realised she was getting nowhere pretty quickly and desisted. They bid each other goodnight and Dan and Alan finally made good their escape.

They were mercifully unmolested all the way back to the dungeons. In the quiet and cool of the deep underground, with no-one in sight and the music finally hushed, Dan pushed Alan into the wall outside their chambers and pushed his tongue roughly into Alan’s mouth, to feel a smile around it. He smiled back and deepened the kiss, tilting his head to take more of that luscious tongue.

The kiss ended with them gasping and smiling at each other then the wards opened on their chambers at a single word and the sound of the door slamming echoed down the empty corridor. Empty, that is, except for the tiny watching charm, subtly placed amongst the dust and cobwebs, high up in the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the dungeon corridor.

****

Deep into the night, even after the last revellers had been rounded up and despatched to bed with phials of hangover potion, a lone girl made her silent way towards the astronomy tower with a bag on her back making a bulge in her black cloak that she wore, despite the heat of the night, to enable herself to camouflage herself against the shadowed walls should she need to; she was a master of stealth.

She climbed and climbed the spiral stair until she reached the room just beneath the upper balcony storey and slipped in, closing and warding the door, casting Impenetrable and a whole panoply of locking and silencing charms on top, just to make sure.

When she knew she was on her own at last, she slid the bag from her shoulder after she shucked her cloak, leaving it where it fell on the flags and rushed to one of the windows let into the east side of the circular tower and by the light of the rising dawn, she unpacked her bag, conjuring a simple table from one of her exercise books, before fishing out her laptop and plugging everything in.

She knew about the Raven brat and her cohort and had had to have strong words with the little fiends. Silence in exchange for free usage and she hoped they were paying their bills. Her own account extended to this room and no other but she was punctilious in her payments. She was pretty sure that electricity extended all the way up the tower, and she knew she’d seen Harry Potter further down on the floor below the Raven’s at least once but any attempt on the door had been foiled.

She hummed as she laced everything together and booted up her computer before casting a ‘reveal’ spell on her modem and plugging in her network cable. She didn’t bother with a phone. Who would she call anyway? No, this line was for the Net and that alone. She went on-line as soon as her machine had finished booting; she had some hot info for her contact.

First she went to her email account. She still hadn’t figured out who ‘Rachel’ was, but she sure seemed to get good info from her. Sure enough there were three emails waiting for her. All were sound files from the Harry Potter movies, the final one, to be precise, from a cam that had been placed in a certain actor’s trailer. Her face heated as she watched the images. Oh, this was too good. Nah, bugger her other contact, she was content for now to just watch as two attractive young men rubbed and frotted each other in the dim recesses of what looked like a hideous muggle caravan before the film fucked up and the sound of another voice reached her, low and indistinct, seemingly shouting out to someone else outside the scenario, then the screen went blank.

“Bugger”, the girl swore and hit the ‘stop’ button with her mouse. One thing was certain though from what she had seen: her hero had been in love before.....before he fell in with the evil man with the nose job, although she had to admit, she still agreed with her friends, the potions master had had some work done and looked better for it. Still, it was all good intelligence for her online friend and she opened ‘new’ in her mailbox, inserting her ‘friend’s’ address and starting to type. The attachment took a long time to load and the girl rolled herself a blunt from the grass her brother sent her. The ping told her the attachment was now loaded and she sniggered softly after a couple of draws on her spliff, her fingers on the keys.

“Hi, there, I hope this gets to you all right. As you can see, hero is with another guy at this point. Hope this is relevant. Much love, L and L”, and pressed send through a haze of smoke. She was about to close down her account when her machine pinged again, ‘You’ve got mail’ said the pop-up box and, curious, she opened it.

“Here’s another hot cam” was the only text. She waited while the short film downloaded then opened Media Player and pressed ‘play’. She was treated to images from a dark corridor, the sway of formal robes, the swathe of black hair and the whiteness of fingers that raked through it. There was sound too, but muffled, and the two players, caught kissing thus, soon disappeared into the rooms close to them. The girl grinned at this and within minutes it too was winging it’s way through cyberspace.

Once her messages were sent, she closed down her account and opened her favourites list, checking out her fave sites for the latest updates to slash stories. A Snarry girl at heart, though she enjoyed the odd Drarry, she trolled her three top sites and sighed, still no updates from the person she passed the info to. Ah well, there was always tomorrow.

Closing down the Internet, she opened up a file of her own, and, as the dawn rose red in the east, she set about typing with gusto. She’d been nurturing the idea all night through that dreadful party and now was the time to get it down. She puffed on her spliff, then dived a hand into her knapsack drawing out the first of several cans of beer kept under a cooling charm. She popped the top, took a long swallow, flexed her fingers and started to write...

****

Into the middle of gasped breaths emanating from both of them, Dan tightened his arms around the barrel chest he held and burrowed his nose into the sweaty hair over one nipple, kissing and tonguing lazily as post-coital lassitude stole over him.

They kissed slowly after Alan hauled Danny off his tit and up to his mouth and smiled and laughed gently against each other’s mouths as their tongues sloppily devoured each other. As Dan slipped from his lover’s body, Alan curled up and turned towards Dan, taking him fully into his arms, “I love you, my Danny”, he murmured, and Dan had to blink back tears as he returned the ardent kisses, crushed as close as he could get to Alan without actually being absorbed under his skin, “Love you too, my Alan”, he finally managed when their lips parted enough to admit air.

As they calmed towards sleep, Dan mumbled, “What the fuck’r we gonna do about Malfoy, love?” Alan held Dan tight and kissed his hair, “I really have no idea. Now sleep with me. I want to feel you pressed against me....”, and Dan kissed him again then turned until he was back-to-chest with the man now holding him tight and murmuring words of love into his thick hair. He smiled and let his worries go, falling asleep in the arms of the man who made him feel safest.